Tangshi VI. 1. (188)

Du FuStaying at the General's Headquarters

The autumn night is clear and cold in the lakka-trees of this courtyard.
I am lying forlorn in the river-town. I watch my guttering candle.
I hear the lonely notes of a bugle sounding through the dark.
The moon is in mid-heaven, but there's no one to share it with me.
My messengers are scattered by whirls of rain and sand.
City-gates are closed to a traveller; mountains are walls in my way –
Yet, I who have borne ten years of pitiable existence,
Find here a perch, a little branch, and am safe for this one night.